5,000 Volunteers to participate in FIFA Arab Cup Qatar 2021

The Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy's Volunteer Strategy Manager Nasser Al Mogaiseeb said, the volunteer registration process for the Arab Cup, which started last April, received about 55,989 volunteer applications

The Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC) announced that 5,000 volunteers will participate in the 10th edition FIFA Arab Cup Qatar 2021, which will be hosted from 30 November to 18 December, with the participation of 16 teams under the umbrella of the International Football Association. In an exclusive interview with Qatar News Agency (QNA), SC's Volunteer Strategy Manager Nasser Al Mogaiseeb said, the volunteer registration process for the Arab Cup, which started last April, received about 55,989 volunteer applications, of which about 36,167 were submitted for registration, and 9,603 volunteers passed this stage, and about 80 interviews were conducted per week over a period of 60 days. He added that 5,000 volunteers were selected in accordance with set standards, and the availability of professional conditions representing different nationalities, including 350 volunteers from outside Qatar, some of them had experience in the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Al Mogaiseeb explained that the volunteers from outside Qatar attended at their own expense according to the applicable volunteering policy, but the Volunteer Strategy Department assisted them through some programs and facilities, and work has been done on training them since mid-October through advanced scientific programs and general training, both in the process of dealing and communicating with the public and learn security and safety procedures in order to prepare them to perform many tasks and roles in addition to specialized training. The volunteers will provide the necessary support in all operational aspects related to organizing the tournament according to disciplines such as hospitality, welcoming and guiding fans to their seats, information services, audience and organization services, transportation support, media services, tickets and protocol, Al-Mughaisib said, adding that 78% of the volunteers who will participate in organizing the Arab Cup are males, while 22% are females, 85% of them are Qatari citizens and residents, and 15% are foreign volunteers from outside the State. The tournament will also witness the participation of 100 volunteer pioneers, a program that was launched in 2018 to prepare a group of leaders among the volunteers to participate in the organization during the full hosting journey, whether in the Arab Cup or the 2022 World Cup. It is expected that the number of volunteer pioneers will reach about 500, their roles will be in the internal operations, whether in the Supreme Committee or FIFA, and the volunteer pioneers may have opportunities to work with FIFA later. He noted that the administration provided a training program for the Arabic language for non-native speakers in cooperation with the Tomoh for Community Development, and a workshop was provided to speak the basics of the Arabic language. Regarding the distributing of volunteers in the six stadiums that will host the 2022 FIFA Arab Cup Qatar, and since it is the first time that matches will be held in this number of stadiums and at close times, Al Mogaiseeb said about 800 volunteers participated in the opening of Al-Thumama Stadium. The distribution is according to a pre-programmed mechanism for each volunteer through the distribution of patrols, each volunteer may work 4 to 8 patrols. The distribution process for volunteers may control many things, including the type of specialization for each volunteer according to the nature of the match and the capacity of the stadium, and therefore the volunteer management is aware in advance of the dates and timetables for all volunteers, and the tasks assigned to them, each group is linked to a direct official and leader who organizes the volunteering process as well as a special call center which will be located in the Doha Exhibition Center next to Katara. Al Mogaiseeb revealed the launch of the "Haihum" initiative for the first time, which targets many Qatari volunteers who do not speak English. Cooperation has been made with the Qatar Voluntary Center so that their main task is to welcome the public, and registration has been opened during the past week, and their tasks will be concentrated in Al Bayt Stadium, with a desire to intensify volunteer efforts during the opening ceremony of the tournament. He explained that about 150 Qatari male and female volunteers who completed the registration process will participate in the opening ceremony, and in the match that will bring together the Qatari and the Bahraini teams on Nov. 30. Among them, there are some volunteers, elderly and people with special needs, which means that the Volunteering Department was keen for volunteers with special needs to participate in various volunteer programs, and they are not only participants in the volunteering process, but are part of the preparation and training phase.